Which to use
“dépendance” is a noun and “dépendants” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,654
- “dépendance” frequency rank
- #19,524
- “dépendants” frequency rank
- 25178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépendance | dépendants |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tout accessoire d’une chose principale, de tout ce qui tient ou se rattache à une chose sans la constituer essentiellement. | Masculin pluriel de dépendant. |
Where the eye mixes dépendance and dépendants
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dépendance (CVCVCCVCCV) and dépendants (CVCVCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dépendance with dépendants
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépendance is \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃s\ while dépendants is \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépendance is recorded at frequency rank #5,654, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃s\. dépendants is at rank #19,524, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 25178, this pair ranks #342,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépendance vs dépendants
Shared letters: adenpé. Private to "dépendance": c. Private to "dépendants": st.
"dépendance" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV · "dépendants" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépendance" for "dépendants" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dépendance" or "dépendants"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépendance" and "dépendants" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépendance" and "dépendants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendants vs dépensant". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #342,336 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.